


Summum Amorem (Greatest Love)

by Dancing_Adrift



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Alternate Universe - Wizards, Angst, Brief Self-Harm (as part of spellwork), Curses, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Enemies, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-12 21:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16003658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dancing_Adrift/pseuds/Dancing_Adrift
Summary: When Jensen betrays him, Jared casts a curse that will slowly destroy whatever it is that Jensen loves most. But something must have gone wrong, because now Jared is starting to get sick...





	Summum Amorem (Greatest Love)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [2018 SPN_Masquerade (Round 5)](https://spn-masquerade.livejournal.com/8997.html) on LJ for this request/prompt:
> 
> _Subject: Jared/Jensen, enemies to lovers, curse, witch!Jared?_
> 
> _Jared hates Jensen more than anything else in the world. He creates (or he asks someone) to curse Jensen so that the thing he loves the most is slowly destroyed._
> 
> _The problem? Jared is starting to feel sick._
> 
> _(shamelessly stolen from Reddit writing prompts)_
> 
> A/N: This prompt grabbed me and would not let go! What a painful but delicious concept! Guh. I just had to make things right for these two boys who so clearly need to always be together. I hope you enjoy what I came up with! ♥

"Spirits damn him!" The wind caught the oaken door and whipped it hard against the wall of Jared's laboratory as he stumbled inside. Lightning flashed and rain pounded the stone floor of the entryway, but Jared gave no heed to the elements.

There was a storm brewing in his mind and in his heart that was well-matched with the one raging outside.

Jared's face was wet, but it wasn't just from the downpour he'd endured to get back to his lab. He pretended it was though, as he tore apart his stores, seeking the ingredients for a spell. No, a curse.

"That's exactly what I'll do, damn him," he sobbed, voice jagged around the edges. Just like his heart, ripped to shreds from the moment of his partner - ex-partner's - betrayal. Wolfsbane, eye of newt, ginger root - it all went into the smooth copper bowl on the large, rough-hewn table at the center of the room. Basilisk venom - that one smoked a bit as it was added - a pinch of sulfur, a handful of thistles collected on the autumnal equinox.

"Curse him, just like he's cursed me," he mumbled as he scoured through a heavy, leather-bound tome, black with age and frayed around the edges. The parchment was stained with all manner of things from years and years of use. Jared's great-grandmother had been a witch of great renown, particularly skilled in the darker magicks, and Jared had inherited the book from her.

He threw it down on the table just as a particularly jarring roll of thunder reminded him of his still open door. When he returned from shutting it, the lab now eerily quiet and calm, he saw the pages had fallen open to just exactly the right spell: _Tardus mori_.

Yes, Jared thought, that was exactly what Jensen Ackles deserved. A slow death. But not of his own life, no. That would be too easy, too good in light of the deception and treachery he had paid Jared over the last eight _months_.

Jared swiped the back of his hand across his eyes and leaned down to read the text. When he was convinced he knew all he needed to perform the spell, he grabbed a silver knife from the counter. With a quick incantation, the candles that bordered his workspace sprung to life, their flames flickering purple. Jared centered the bowl of ingredients between the candles and raised his hand over it, knife poised just above his open palm.

" _Tardus mori. Per mortem amoris, vindictae. Vindictae. VINDICTAE!_ " With the final word, he sliced his hand over the bowl. He stood there for several moments, dripping his blood into the mixture and repeating the words of the spell under his breath. He was beginning to wonder if it had worked - he was starting to feel a little light-headed - when there was suddenly a blinding flash and then Jared fell, unconscious on the wet floor.

***

Jared woke to a completely dark room. Very carefully he rose, muttering the words to light the sconces that lined the walls. The simple spell made him feel woozy - or maybe that was from the effort of the curse, or from hitting his head when he fell. Either way, he quickly found a clean piece of cloth to wrap around the cut in his hand and then took a long swallow of a healing potion he always kept in stock. Then he grabbed a bottle of dark firewhiskey and headed to his bedroom, intent upon drinking himself back into unconsciousness until the pains of his body - and his heart - were long forgotten.

***

Jared stayed in bed all the next day, vacillating between stages of drunkenness, bone-deep exhaustion, and soul-wrenching grief. He only ever left occasionally in order to relieve himself, taking a small sip of healing potion every time he passed through his lab between the latrine and his bed, but eventually his body's need for solid sustenance became too strong to ignore.

Being low on food supplies and not feeling particularly keen on cooking anyway, Jared bathed and dressed himself and headed out to the local tavern. The storm had lasted almost as long as his period of mourning and puddles still dotted the dirt road from his cottage into town. The air, though, was crisp and fresh and Jared breathed it in deeply.

A coughing fit overtook him then, so strong in its force that he bent over almost double, clutching his ribs. When it was over, he wiped his hand across his mouth, concern spiking high to see it come back bloody. _What the devil?_

Jared pushed the incident from his mind and entered the establishment, thinking only of a hunk of fresh-baked bread served with their lamb-roast stew.

***

It was the next day when Jared saw Jensen again for the first time since… well, since. There was still a sharp pain in Jared's chest just from the sight of him, but he let the flare of his wrath burn it away. Yet his damned desire to be near him - all those months working together, being partners, being _friends_ \- still lingered, stubbornly clinging to life despite the day he'd spent abed trying to drink it to death. And thus he stayed out of Jensen's way, avoiding him like the Plague.

Curiosity kept him within seeing distance, however. Jared wondered if the effects of his curse had yet started to manifest in Jensen's life. Or, rather, indirectly in his life, by slowly destroying whatever Jensen loved most.

Because that's what he had done to Jared that night at the Wizard's Council. Months and months spent researching the secrets of the philosopher's stone, planning exactly how they would present their findings to the council together, how they'd convince them to fund the final stages necessary to conduct the elaborate spell that would create the stone. Jared had poured all his time and effort into the project only to watch, dumbfounded, as Jensen was called, alone, to come into the High Priestess's chambers to tell them of his discovery. _His_. Not theirs.

When Jensen had emerged from the small side room, the book containing all their notes left behind and the secret to immortality given freely to the council, Jared had fled, utterly humiliated and, worst of all, totally forsaken by the man Jared had thought to be his best friend. But it was apparent then that Jensen had intended to take advantage of Jared's help only to double-cross him all along, applying for the grant permits on his own so that he would be the sole recipient of the funds - and the credit for what they _both_ had worked so hard to achieve.

Jared pulled himself out of the memory, breathing heavily at the remembered hurt. As his eyes regained their focus, he saw Jensen hurrying towards him, an unreadable expression on his face. Jared quickly turned to hurry away but was stopped in his tracks by a piercing pain in his abdomen.

He fell to his knees clutching his stomach, loud moans falling from his lips without his permission as he rode through wave after wave of pure agony. He felt warm hands on his shoulders and was leaning into a familiar scent when he then passed out.

***

When Jared awoke, he was back home in his own bed. His room was softly lit by the few candles he kept on the stand where he performed his morning ablutions. He ached all over, but it was all very dull - nothing compared to that moment when he'd last spotted Jensen. He was just starting to try sitting up when his bedroom door was pushed open quietly and Jared froze, once again faced with the sight of the man he hated most in the world.

"What the hell are you doing here," he growled at Jensen. Scads of protection and warding spells flew through Jared's assessing mind - anything that might make his enemy disappear. He opened his mouth, words forming to force Jensen to leave as soon as possible, but he was stopped by Jensen's finger falling gently to his lips.

"Shhh, save your strength," Jensen said, sitting on the edge of Jared's bed.

Jared recoiled. "My strength?" he asked, incredulous. "What do you care about my strength? What do you care about _me_?"

Jensen sat, silent, a stunned look on his face. Jared scoffed.

"Are you serious? I'll ask you one more time before I _make_ you leave. What. The hell. Are you doing. Here." Jared crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Jensen, doing his best to ignore the concerned wrinkle between his brows or the worried look in his eyes.

Jensen cleared his throat.

"Jared, what did you do?"

"That's _not_ an answer, Jensen. You have five seconds before I start hexing you."

The bed, and Jared, jostled when Jensen leaned forward and grabbed him by the upper arms, a frightened look in his eyes.

" _No_ , Jared. What did you _do_? Out there, the book, the blood… What did you to to yourself?" Jensen gave Jared a gentle shake then sat back again, his bottom lip caught between his teeth - a habit, Jared knew, from whenever Jensen was particularly nervous or stressed. Then Jensen's words hit Jared.

"What did I do to _myself_? Nothing! I mean, sure, maybe there were some side effects from the curse…" Jared slapped a hand over his mouth. He'd said too much.

"The _curse_?" Jensen looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Who were you trying to curse? _Why_?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK?" Jared bellowed, absolutely outraged. The _audacity_ , as if Jensen wasn't fully aware of what he'd done…

The rant forming died in Jared's throat as he fell into another coughing fit, complete with more blood. Jensen hastened to the water basin kept on Jared's bath-stand and came back with a damp cloth. He dabbed at Jared's forehead and wiped at his mouth, the white cloth coming back stained red.

"You seriously need to tell me what you did, Jared. Who did you try to curse?"

"YOU, okay?" Jared roared, swallowing another cough with great difficulty. "I tried to curse _you_. And I didn't _try_. It definitely worked. I just don't understand _how_ , because nothing seems to be different."

"You tried to curse _me_?" Jensen asked, his voice small. He looked down at his hands briefly, then looked back up at Jared, confusion shining behind the hint of tears in his eyes.

"Well, not you directly," Jared mumbled. "But after what you did! You deserve it."

"What _I_ did?" Jensen looked utterly lost and Jared hated him for it. How could he _not_ know? He must've been even better at faking his emotions than Jared had initially thought. Jared would have punched him if he didn't think it might make him pass out again.

"Yes! What _you_ did," Jared sneered. "Sold me out? Gave the secrets to immortality to the Wizard's Council without a lick of acknowledgement for all the time I spent researching with you? At _least_ half the credit belongs to me - and the funding and resources to actually do the spell - and you _know_ it Jensen. And _you took that from me_. So I took something from you."

" _What_?" Jensen gasped. "No, wait, that - that's not what happened! I - Jared! I would never do that to you! And what… What do you mean? What did you take from me?"

Jared stared at Jensen, amazed.

"But I _saw_ you, Jensen. I watched you bring our research to the High Priestess and come back with nothing. And with no mention before the Wizard's Council of my part in everything. How can you claim you didn't desert me at the last minute, forsaking our friendship and all we had worked so hard to achieve together?"

"Oh, Jared. Sweetheart. I didn't give them our research. And if you hadn't run off so quickly, you'd know that. In fact, I'd meant to… wait. You said you'd taken something from me. _What_ exactly did you take? Was it part of the curse?"

Jared sat silently as Jensen's defense of himself sank in. If he was telling the truth, then Jared had way overestimated the scope of his revenge and there was trouble ahead.

" _Summum amorem_ ," he answered with hardly any breath to carry the words far enough to reach Jensen's ears.

"What was that?"

" _Summum. Amorem_ ," Jared repeated. "Whatever you love the most. _Tardus mori_."

"Slow death," Jensen translated. Then he drew in a deep breath, his eyes filling with tears as he leaned forward and cupped Jared's face in his hands.

"Then, Jared… I'm afraid you _did_ curse yourself," he said.

" _No_ , I told you… Wait. What?" Jared felt like all the wind had been knocked out of him. "What… What are you saying, Jensen?"

"I'm _saying_ …" Jensen stopped, breathed out. "Oh, fuck it."

And Jensen kissed him. Kissed Jared. Jared was frozen in place, barely registering the soft press of Jensen's lips against his, the gentle swipe of his tongue. The shock was just… _Jensen_. Was _kissing_ him.

After a few moments of no response from Jared, Jensen pulled back, a hesitant look creeping into his eyes. His thumbs stroked Jared's face where they rested on his cheeks.

"I'm telling you that I love you. Above _all_ things," he stressed. "I have for a long time."

"But, the Wizard's Council…?" Jared faltered. If Jared had misread what happened that night… Oh, spirits. What had he done?

"The meeting with the High Priestess was nothing but a cover, Jared. A cover for _us_."

Jared stared at Jensen, dazed, and waited for him to fully explain. Jensen sighed.

"I never intended to share our findings with the Council, Jared. At least not once I figured out how I felt about you."

"But then…" Jared swallowed, hard. "What _did_ you give them? I saw the book, Jensen. What, how…"

"It was a decoy." Jensen shrugged. "A copy I'd made, almost identical. But I changed just enough that, if anyone with access to it were to try stealing the information and making a stone for themselves, they'll only get an imitation. No harm, no foul, right?" he laughed nervously.

"But why did you do it? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I applied for the permits by myself, just in case it didn't work. I didn't want my deception to lead back to you. But.. Jared, they gave us the funds. We'll have access to everything we need to make the philosopher's stone."

Jared's heart quickened its beat in his chest, but before he could say anything, Jensen continued.

"But we should probably do the spell as quickly as possible… before someone takes too close a look at my falsified documents… That is, if you still want to, of course." His face turned red and he looked back down and away from Jared.

Jared leaned forward and placed his hands over where Jensen's rested in his lap.

"I think I'm beginning to understand now," he started, choosing his words carefully. "But Jensen. I still need to know _why_ you did this at all, especially with the risk to you if the Council finds out. What were you thinking?"

Jensen looked up at him then, fierce determination in his eyes.

"I did it because, if I'm going to figure out how to have eternal life, if there's even the slightest chance that I can become immortal, then there's only one other possible person I want to have the ability to do that too. And that's you, Jared. I couldn't stand the thought of anyone else having and using that information, when it was the two of us - just _us_ \- who had done all the work of figuring it out. If I'm going to live forever, I want to do it with you. _Only_ you."

"Oh." Jared was… well, he was speechless. He'd had no idea… How could he have had no idea? Jensen had been his best friend, but he'd never shown any interest…? And now he was saying that he loved him, wanted to spend forever with him…

"Oh, spirits," he cursed. "I've made a horrible mistake."

Jensen, to Jared's dismay, chuckled at that.

"Well, I'd say. Went and cursed yourself to a slow death when we're supposed to live forever."

"And how is that all my fault? I had no idea that you… that you... " he dropped his hands, defeated.

"That I love you more than anything in the world?" Jensen finished for him softly, eyes searching Jared's as though seeking an answer.

"Yeah. That." Jared's chest felt inflated, several sizes too large, filled with the enormity of Jensen's confessions… And with the realization that Jared felt that way, too. Maybe he always had, but was just too blinded by ambition, by their time spent researching the philosopher's stone, to see what had been in front of him the whole time.

"Jensen." He met Jensen's eyes, saw the love there and felt helpless in the face of it. "What do we do?"

Jensen leaned forward and kissed Jared again, slowly, surely, and this time Jared did his best to kiss him back, desperate to show the feelings that he couldn't quite form words to just yet. Jared clung to Jensen as Jensen caressed his face, tilting Jared's head to get the perfect angle - deep and passionate, and like a promise. When Jensen pulled away, he was smiling as bright as the sun.

"Well, first, I think we need to go visit The Cursebreaker, get you all sorted out. Then we finish our work with the stone and become immortal."

"And then?" Jared asked, breathless, excited.

"Then we spend forever figuring this thing between us out."

Jared pulled Jensen back to him, happier than he'd ever been in his life. "It's a deal." And he sealed it with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> My apologies for completely bullshitting everything in regards to spell-making/casting/other magical things. I do hope you enjoyed the story regardless! Thank you again to all those who left love on the original LJ post, thank you to [non_tiembo_mala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/non_tiembo_mala) for the enthusiastic alpha approval, and thanks to all of YOU for reading! ♥


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